


A reptilian rescue mission.

by Chromite



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fighting, Guards, Offering, Picnic, hissing, subterrainian city
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 04:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20057944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromite/pseuds/Chromite
Summary: A picnic between Jasper and Steven takes an unexpected turn. It's up to Jasper to rescue Steven from the villainous Sneeple! But, is everything as it ssseemsss?





	1. Picnic interrupted

>A large pink spaceship shaped like a pair of legs lands on a planet far from Earth, parting the green clouds in the orange sky, touching down gently on the lush green grass covering this patch of the planet's surface.  
>From the top of the ship, a small pink sphere emerged, rolling off the top of the waist section and floating down gently to the surface of the world. Only when it was firmly on the surface did it open, releasing Steven and Jasper from within.  
>Steven smiled as he stepped across the green grass over towards the tall blue trees with purple leaves nearby, clutching the handle of a picnic basket in his right hand. "C'mon Jasper, let's get in the shade over there, it'll be great!"  
>"Remind me again why we had to come here, runt?" Jasper huffed after speaking out in an annoyed tone.  
>"Aww, don't be like that! We came out here to have some fun, you've been acting down again lately! I figured we could come to a place free of worries and far from Earth to take your mind off of things!"  
>Jasper raised an eyebrow. "Free of worries? What about the native species runt?"  
>"I had the ship scan the planet a few times Jasper. Most of the species here are small, and there are no complex structures on the surface. We're totally safe out here."  
>"Tch, fine. But only because I'm hungry and I don't want to go looking for other food!" Jasper grumbled as she rushed to catch up to Steven. Steven suppressed a giggle, he knew Jasper was putting on a tough act to try and hide what was troubling her. He would get to the bottom of things out here, he was sure of it.  
>The pair picked out a spot a short distance into the nearby grove of blue trees. Steven hummed as he sat the picnic basket down and pulled out a cloth from within. He gave the fabric a gentle snap with his arms, and spread it along the ground before grabbing the basket and sitting at one end, placing the basket in the middle of the cloth.  
>Jasper grumbled a bit as she sat down directly across from Steven. Steven smiled as he started setting the contents of the basket out, spreading them along the middle of the cloth. Sandwiches, chaaaps, pies, carrots, broccoli, celery, biscuits, jelly, pastries, and a few juice boxes, all pulled out one by one and sorted neatly, sandwiches in the middle next to the paper plates, and sweets closer to Jasper.  
>Steven smiled as he grabbed one of the sandwiches, a handful of chaaaps, some carrots and some broccoli, and sat them on his plate before he brought it back close to himself. Jasper grumbled a bit as she eyed the spread, before she settled on piling her plate with some pastries, a slice of pie, and some of the meatier sandwiches that had been prepared. As much as Jasper hated to admit it, she had developed quite the sweet tooth in her time on Earth, which had caused her form to become slightly pudgy, her belly having a soft layer of fat over her still hard abs underneath.  
>Steven attempted to make conversation in between bites. "So, have you found anything new lately? Anything you've been really enjoying?"  
>Jasper shoved another sandwich in her mouth and chewed it slowly, savoring the savory meats between the soft slices of bread, a light coating of mustard adding a bit of a bitter flavor to the mix.  
>"Uh.......have you gotten anything new for your home? I know you built a small place out near Beta recently, have you settled in alright?"  
>Jasper pushed half of a chocolate pie into her open maw, biting down hard and chewing thoroughly, running the chocolate cream along her tongue and thoroughly enjoying the sweetness of the dessert.  
>"Jasper please, I'm really trying here!" Steven raised his voice a bit as he sat his food down upon his plate. "I thought getting you away from the others would help you relax and open up about what's bothering you. Please, let me help."  
>Jasper swallowed the food in her moth before growling a bit. "S'nothing you can help with Steven, it's my own problem, I'll deal with it on my own!"  
>"Dang it, just tell me what's bothering you! I thought we were past this!"  
>"You've done enough! What about you, don't you get TIRED of fixing everyone's problems?! Let ME handle it alone for once, I'll be FINE!"  
>"No you won't! Sitting and sulking isn't fine, please just-woah"  
>Steven cut himself off as the surface of the planet began to shake, toppling the juice boxes over, sending pieces of carrot, celery, and broccoli flying in the air, and making a pastry fly up and land right in the middle of a cream pie. Jasper casually grabbed the pastry from within the pie and shoved it in her mouth while Steven's eyes widened in shock.  
>Then the ground behind Steven opened up. Jasper gagged on her pastry as she saw two thin scaly green figures emerge from the opening, wrapping their thin arms around Steven in tandem. One spoke out in a feminine tone. "A male at lassst, a male at lassst! Finally, a sssuitable offering for the queen!"  
>"Yesss, a sssuitable offering indeed sssissster! We mussst take him to her immediately!"  
>"Oh no you don't!" Jasper snarled as she lunged towards the pair. The two snaky beings let out twin hisses before one threw a round orb to the ground, creating a smokey cloud and causing Jasper to choke up. She waved her arms frantically around to try and clear the air faster.  
>By the time the smoke cleared, the two snaky beings were gone, Steven along with them. Jasper gritted her teeth and clenched her hands into fists, the horns on her head growing out slightly as her anger built up.  
>"Great, what are Sneeple doing here, I thought they were wiped out ages ago! If they think I'm going to let them sacrifice Steven to their queen, they have another thought coming!"  
>Jasper quickly bundled the picnic up in the cloth and placed it gently in the basket after grabbing another pastry. She half snarled half chewed as she jumped into the fissure, assuming that's where the two had gone in all the ruckus.  
>Her body slid down the steep slope quickly, the rocks and uneven nature of the slope digging into her back slightly as she slid. After fifteen minutes of sliding, she found herself at the bottom, standing in a narrow passage. In the distance, she spotted a source of light ahead of her.  
>Jasper smirked as she summoned her helmet upon her head. Her horns grew out longer, piercing through the top of her helmet before curling down and around the sides of her face. Three large green spikes shot out of each of her shoulders as her muscles bulged with a greater strength. The corruption had left Jasper with a nice way to receive a power boost when she really needed it, and now was one of those rare times she was glad to have it.  
>"I don't NEED the boost, but it's sure to scare the scales off those reptilian freaks!" Jasper thought to herself as she rushed down the corridor towards the light.  
>When she arrived at the end of the path, she let out a small gasp as she looked around the large cavern the path had led to. Before Jasper stood several tall and thin buildings, created from pure stone and connecting the floor of the cavern to the ceiling. Around the larger towers were smaller dwellings, of various sizes and shapes. In the streets below, she caught sight of several Sneeple slithering around from the distance, their bodies covered in shades of red, green, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and in a rainbow of combinations past that. "A whole city? There hasn't been a Sneeple settlement this large since Gamma Alpha Thirteen." Her surprise faded as a sense of excitement started filling her form again. "I'll have to have some fun here AFTER I save Steven! Now, how to find him?"  
>Jasper considered her option as she made her way slowly closer to the city. A strait up ruckus could bring down too many soldiers at once and prevent her from reaching Steven in time. She needed something small scale, a way to isolate a few of the reptilian aliens so she could figure out where the queen was.  
>An idea came to her in a flash of inspiration. Jasper made her way to the outskirts of the city, crouched down in a dark alley, and waited for a Snerson to draw too close.  
>Jasper didn't have to wait long before one drew near, a deep red color with rings of gold along its back. With a quick lunge, Jasper wrapped her powerful arms around the Snerson and dragged it into the alley. "Help, someone help!" the Snerson cried out in a feminine tone before Jasper covered her mouth and muffled her shouts.  
>"Perfect, that should be just enough to draw a few in. Don't try anything or your mincemeat." Jasper whispered to her captive. She could feel the female snake person tense up in her arms, no longer fighting against the large Quartz's hold.  
>It didn't take long for two Sneeple to arrive at the entrance of the dark alley, both wearing thick armor with spears in their hands, one was a deep blue color with bands of green along its body, the other was a purple shade with yellow squares patterned along its form.  
>"I think it came from here!" the purple reptile shouted out in a feminine tone.  
>The other responded in a slightly higher pitch as she called out. "Ssshow yourssself villain! We know you're here, we can sssmell you!"  
>"As you wish!" Jasper shouted out as she shoved her hostage aside and lunged at the two soldier snakes, a wide grin on her face. She was upon them faster than they could react, snapping their spears with ease and pinning both to the ground.  
>"If you want to live, you will tell me where you take the offerings you present to your queen!" Jasper roared out, her teeth elongating slightly as she flashed a toothy smile.  
>"Offeringsss? There hasssn't been an offering in agesss!" The purple one hissed out.  
>"Sssissster, do you think? Do you think sssomeone finally found?"  
>"They mussst have! Oh thank the ssscalesss, we're sssaved!"  
>"TELL ME where it is already!" Jasper shouted out in irritation.  
>"Never. We sssacrifice ourssselvesss willingly for the sssake of our sssurvival." The purple one spat out.  
>"Find it yourssself, ssstupid orange beassst!" The blue one bared her fangs a little as she finished.  
>"This was a waste of time!" Jasper shouted out in frustration as she knocked their heads together knocking them unconscious. "Where did they take Steven?!"  
>"You care about sssomeone? Unusssual for one of your kind." Jasper whirred around in shock as she head the red snerson she had taken hostage speak out.  
>"What of it reptile?! You think we're all heartless?"  
>"Yesss, I've heard from the eldersss what Gemsss can do. But you.....are different. Hmhmhm."  
>"Ugh, don't have time for you! Think, where would the best place be for a queen." Jasper rubbed the sides of her head as she spoke.  
>"It won't make a difference, they will ssstop you if you get too clossse. Thisss offering isss too important to sssurrender. For laughsss, to watch you ssstruggle, I'll tell you."  
>"Where!? Tell me WHERE?!" Jasper shouted out as she started moving back towards the red snerson.  
>"At the top of the towersss, of courssse. Each one leadsss to the grand throne room. That'sss where the one you care about will be."  
>The tension in Jasper's body eased up as she turned her gaze towards the nearest tower, then back at the red snerson. "Thank you."  
>"Try not to get yourssself broken, gem. You will underssstand the futility of your effortsss sssoon enough."  
>Jasper let out one more growl as she started towards the closest tower. Behind her, she could hear the laughter of the red snerson she was leaving behind.


	2. Jasper's tower assault.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper makes her way into one of the tall stone towers that connects to the ceiling, determined to find the queen and save Steven!

>Jasper made her way carefully through the streets of the Sneeple town, trying to go unnoticed as long as she could. She knew a fight was unavoidable, but she still didn't want the whole army on her yet, not while Steven was still in danger.   
>Jasper grinned as she arrived at one of the pure stone towers that reached from the ceiling to the floor. "If that snake was lying to me, I'll find her and gut her if Steven gets hurt." Jasper thought to herself, gritting her teeth before kicking the door on the tower down.   
>The door clattered noisily to the floor as Jasper jumped into the building, fully ready for a fight. Three guards within turned their attention towards Jasper, each a solid green color, torsos clad in a thick plate armor, and each clutching a sword.   
>The guards hissed as they lunged towards Jasper, one shouting out in a high pitch tone "Intruder!". Jasper smirked to herself before curling her body up into a ball and initiating an energy dash, her body becoming wreathed in an orange fire. Jasper slammed directly into the snerson in the middle of the group, her armor melting a little from the impact, her sword snapped in half. She let out a shrill scream as Jasper brought her helmet down half force, connecting with the snerson's skull and knocking her out.  
>The other two had turned around, and were both lunging towards Jasper at the same time. "Useless!" she shouted out as she dropped to the floor, letting the two Sneeple fly over her harmlessly. Jasper smirked as she quickly sprung up and grabbed onto the tail of the one on the left, savored the yelp of surprise before she used the snerson as a flail, slamming the one she had a hold of into the other, sending them sliding to the right, their bodies tangling as they tumbled together.   
>"You'll never get there in time, ssshe'sss too excited about thisss development!" One of the two guards spat out between her ragged breaths as she tried to untangle herself from the other guard, who was unconscious.  
>Jasper ignored the words as she made her way across the room towards the back wall. A few different doors rested before her. "One of these has to be the stairs, but which one? Grr, don't have TIME for this, Steven NEEDS me!" she thought to herself as she stared at the doors for a moment.   
>Jasper sighed as she decided the best way to go would be to start from one end and keep trying doors. She made her way over to the far left side and threw the doors open full force.   
>Jasper growled in annoyance as she saw a room, large, dusty and dark, large piles of dirt sitting in several spots, the walls lined with shelves that dipped down periodically, forming small divots to set something in. She stuck her head in and looked around, noticing the room stretched down a few extra doors. "An empty hatchery, not what I need." she thought to herself.  
>Jasper did a quick estimation in her head based on the size of the hatchery and ducked her head out of the room before running past five more sets of doors, sliding to a stop in front of the sixth. When she threw that set of doors open and noticed she had arrived at the other end of the large hatchery, she let out an irritated growl before moving another set of doors down and kicking them in. The doors splintered apart as they hit the stairs within. "There, like all the other Sneeple towns, stairs border the hatchery room." she grumbled to herself before entering the staircase.   
>Jasper's legs strained as she pushed her large form up the stairs, ascending floor after floor, her body moving in an orange blur.   
>Despite her speed, it still took Jasper a half hour to climb up the one hundred floors worth of stairs to reach the top of the staircase. Her body shook a bit as she opened the doors before her, dropping back into her cautious mode. Before her was a large hallway, painted in a shining gold color, lovely green tapestries hanging on the walls as far down as Jasper could see, beneath her feet sat golden tiled floors with a red carpet fastened down upon the center of the hall.  
>"Hold on Steven, I'm almost there!" Jasper shouted out before she started running down the hall. Her mind raced as she got to the first junction and caught a whiff of something cooking. Her heart sank as horrible thoughts started running through her minds. "What are they DOING to him?! Are they going to EAT him?! Not if I have a say in it!"  
>Jasper started following the smell, making quick twists and turns through the hallways, the smell getting stronger, allowing her to smell the scent better. Hints of garlic, onions, and peppers now wafted strong, making Jasper's mouth water a bit before she shook herself out of it. She didn't want to think about food now, not when Steven himself could be on the menu.   
>As she reached the end of the path, where the smell was the strongest, she threw the doors open, causing them to slam loudly against the walls they were hinged to. Her heart sank a bit as she looked around the room, her face going pale.   
>Within the kitchen, a dozen chefs were dicing away at ingredients, throwing them into several pots of stew. Upon the cutting boards of some of them were purple blob-like aliens, each one with four tentacles coming out of its body, their wide black eyes lifeless, their long muzzles hanging open with long blue tongues drooping out. Near the chefs stood three dozen guards, each one armed with a long spear.   
>Jasper swallowed hard at the sight. As good as she was, she didn't want to fight three dozen guards at once. What's more, Steven didn't appear to be in the room, he wasn't on the menu after all.   
>Jasper let out a nervous laugh as she started backing away. "Uh.....wrong turn, I'll just......go." She backed away a few steps before she made a mad dash away from the kitchen and down the hall. It didn't take long before two dozen of the guards that had been in the kitchen came crashing out after her, a chorus of shouts coming from the colorful group. "Ssstop her!" "Catch her!" "Ssshe mussst not get away!"  
>Jasper made a lot of frantic turns through the maze of halls, hoping her speed would be enough to throw the guards off her trail. Left, right, right, left, left, strait, left, strait, right, Jasper made split second choices when the path branched out before her.   
>Her heart sank again when she made one more turn and came face to face with a large metal door, four guards standing to the left and to the right of it, each one wearing glittery golden armor and holding gilded swords, the color blending in with their golden scales. The eight golden guards took notice of Jasper as she slid to a stop and turned around, only to be met with eight more guards behind her, two green, two blue, one purple, one orange, and two pink.   
>Jasper tried to hide her nervousness with a bold taunt. "Well come on, who wants the first shot?! I'll take you all on!" Her bravado caused the guards to pause for only a moment before they all advanced swiftly towards the large Quartz soldier.   
>Jasper growled as she grabbed onto the first two Sneeple that got to her, flinging them hard into two other guards, sending the two pairs tumbling towards the metal door, their bodies getting entangled.  
>Meanwhile, the other twelve guards were all around her, thrusting their swords and spears into Jasper's form, creating light gashes all over the Quartz soldier as she kept fighting, breaking a few weapons as she went, flinging a few away as she thrashed and punched at their snaky forms, but unable to overcome their sheer numbers. Her wounds became too much for her to handle. Tears ran down her eyes as she felt her form shudder, about to give way. "I'm sorry Steven, I...couldn't save you."  
>Jasper's form gave way, exploding violently, scattering the twelve guards who had been assaulting her in various directions as a cloud of smoke billowed out from where she had stood, her thin orange gemstone clattering to the red carpet below.   
>The orange guard made her way to Jasper's stone first, and picked it up in her hands. "Ssshe mentioned the queen'sss offering, didn't ssshe? But why? Gemsss are sssuppossse to be heartlessssss" The orange guard looked towards her fellow guards, who were starting to murmur phrases in confusion.  
>"Ssstrange indeed." "Very curiousss." Highly unusssual." "How fassscinating."   
>Then one of the golden ones spoke up. "We ssshould take her to the queen, yesss? Let her decide what fate ssshall be bessstowed on the intruder!"  
>The other guards nodded their agreement before they traversed the halls, the orange guard leading the way, holding onto Jasper's gemstone firmly.   
\-------  
>When Jasper reformed, she looked around herself in confusion. The first thing she noticed were the twelve spears pointing right at her. "Why?! Why didn't you BREAK me?! Steven's gone, I failed him! Just DO it already!" Tears ran down the large Quartz's face once more as she buried her face in her hands.   
>"Aww, don't cry Jasper, I'm fine, I'm up here!" A voice, so sweet and gentle, called out to the sobbing gem. Jasper ceased her crying, disbelief setting in as she removed her face from her hands and turned herself around......and then looked up.  
>Jasper's mouth gaped open at the sight before her. Towering over her small orange form was a gigantic figure, her body long and slender, her scales shining in a rainbow of colors, a combination of every shade of snerson Jasper had seen in the city and then some. A glittering tiara was slipped down upon her head, brilliant stones set into the crown in spots. But most importantly, Jasper spotted a familiar human figure, smiling down at her from the large and colorful left hand of the giant reptile before her.   
>"Steven?! You, you're alive! But, how, I thought, they were going to offer you to the queen!"  
>"He wasss offered to me." A sultry voice sent a shiver down Jasper's form. Even at a whisper, the large snake's voice echoed through the chamber. Her reptilian face broke into a fanged grin. "Sssteven, ssshould I explain, or do you want to?"  
>"I'll handle it, queen Ophillia. She'll understand it better coming from me."   
>"Very well, I leave it to you."  
>Steven jumped from queen Ophillia's large hand and floated gently down to Jasper, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug. "Thank you for trying Jasper, I know you did your best."  
>A slight blush formed on Jasper's face. "Wh-whatever runt! Will you tell me what's going on here?"  
>"Hoo boy, where do I start? See, the Sneeple on this planet, they have a tradition of gathering up all the adult males in their society, and all the adult male humanoids on the planet, and then the queen picks her favorite and....mates with him, while the other males mate with the smaller females."  
>"Steven, you didn't!" Jasper cried out in shock.  
>"Relax, I didn't. I explained to the queen about humans and age of maturity. The offering is only suppose to involve adults, and I'm still too young!"  
>Ophillia interjected at this point, leaning her body down to put her large head level with Jasper's body. "At firssst, I wasss upssset, but then, Sssteven told me sssomething that cheered me up."  
>Jasper swallowed hard and shook as she stared at the large head that could easily "Wh-what did he tell you, exactly, your majesty?"   
>Ophillia cracked a smile before she spoke again. "He told me he knew of a place where there were malesss that we could.....borrow for our ritualsss. It isss vital we get them asss sssoon asss possssssible. Thisss generation sssaw the birth of no malesss, we need to replenisssh our numbersss."  
>Jasper looked at the large queen then back at Steven in disbelief, then spoke out. "Steven, this is.....are you SURE this will work? Humans are......they're fragile and Sneeple can be......rough. It might be difficult to get people to volunteer. No offense your majesty, but your size alone will require you to be careful with them."  
>"It'll be fine Jasper, I know of at least one human that will come along happily. Ophillia wants us to take her twelve best diplomats with us to gather volunteers. Please Jasper, we have to help them, they'll die out if we don't!"  
>Jasper thought for a moment before letting out a long sigh. "Your caring nature is going to get you in trouble one day Steven. Fine, we'll take them back to Earth, but I want something from them first."   
>Ophillia let out a laugh at Jasper's boldness, the room itself shaking from the sound. "You wisssh for sssomething from usss, gem? How amusssing, what isss it?"  
>Jasper grinned as she turned back to the soldiers around her. "I've been itching for a good fight, and been unable to really let loose, until today! I want a rematch with your guards every now and then!"   
>Ophillia cracked another smile. "Very well, we will arrange it for you. Now Sssteven, pleassse fulfill your promissse. Go and bring usss back asss many volunteersss asss you can pleassse, my new little friend."  
>"I promise, I'll be back as soon as I can. C'mon Jasper, the diplomats are already waiting near the ship. You can spar after we get back."   
>Jasper smiled as the guards parted for Steven and she followed behind him, flashing a daring grin at the two closest ones to her, sending shivers through their scaly bodies.  
>When they exited the throne room, Steven let out a soft sigh and turned to face Jasper. "That's what's been bothering you, isn't it? You just needed a fight. Why didn't you say something?!"  
>Jasper rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I didn't want a pity spar Steven, I wanted a REAL fight, something where the other person would try their hardest and NOT know who I was."   
>Steven paused for a moment then nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I think I get it. It must be hard. I hope the Sneeple can satisfy you for a while, Jasper.  
>"Thanks for understanding runt. C'mon, the sooner we get back to Earth, the sooner I can get back and beat some scaly hides into the ground!"  
>Steven let out a soft chuckle. "We're already underground Jasper."  
>"Y-you know what I meant! Grr, let's just go!" Jasper stomped off ahead. She smiled to herself as she thought of the fun she would soon be having.  
>Steven smiled as he rushed after her. He was glad Jasper had tried to save him, and glad she would soon get what she really needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed this little ride.


End file.
